In this edition of our Women in Tech series, we hear from Michelle Slotter, who took one of the most unexpected paths into tech you'll find: from restaurant management to retail, a decade as a live-in nanny, and finally into software sales after her husband, a senior developer, pointed her in the right direction. Nearly five years later, Michelle has moved from SDR to Account Manager to the Renewals Desk, and she hasn't slowed down once.
In this interview, she shares what it really means to build a career in tech without a tech background, why she refuses to "ease off the gas," and the one piece of advice her grandfather gave her that she carries into every role.
How did you get to where you are today at SmartRecruiters? Can you share a pivotal moment that jumpstarted your journey?
Michelle: I’ve taken a bit of a winding road to get to where I am at SmartRecruiters. I started my career in hospitality, spending several years in restaurant management, then moved into retail management for many more. After that, I did something completely different and became a full-time, live-in nanny for almost ten years. When my last nanny role ended, I moved to a new state, met my now husband, and was introduced to his world as a senior software developer.
He tried to teach me how to code, but it was clear pretty quickly that my brain just doesn’t think in programming languages. That could’ve been the end of my “tech” story, but instead it became the pivot point. He suggested I look into software sales, and that clicked. I decided to invest in myself, took a bootcamp-style course to become a Sales Development Representative, and sent out applications. My second application was to SmartRecruiters—and almost five years later, I’ve gone from SDR to Account Manager to my current role on the Renewals Desk.
Across every chapter—restaurants, retail, childcare, and now tech—I’ve carried the same approach: stay curious, stay creative, and keep moving forward. I try to take something from every experience, use it to be a little better than I was yesterday, and never stop learning.
What’s a challenging or complex project at SmartRecruiters that you’re particularly proud of, and how did you approach it?
Michelle: One of the biggest challenges I’ve had at SmartRecruiters was in my role as a Mid-Market Account Manager. At one point, I was responsible for almost 200 accounts, most of them in a “Digital Success” model. In practice, that meant I was their main human touchpoint. On any given day I could log in to 70+ emails waiting, 20+ renewals or add-on conversations to manage, plus trainings, enablement, and all the usual KPIs to hit. It was a lot.
I pretty quickly learned that, as much as I wanted to be, I am not Wonder Woman. So I had to get smarter about how I worked. I started leaning more on internal experts, asking the right questions of the right teams instead of trying to solve everything alone. I built a simple system for myself to prioritize my time, stay on top of follow-ups, and intentionally reach out to customers before things became urgent. It was never perfect, but it worked, and it kept me from burning out.
The other big lesson was around boundaries. I’ve always wanted to be the “nice” person, but in that role I learned that my job was to be the professional partner first. That meant sometimes saying no, or pushing back, and not feeling guilty about it when it was the right thing for the customer, the business, or my own capacity. That experience stretched me more than almost anything else I’ve done here, and it taught me a lot about sustainable ways to show up for both my customers and myself.
Have you ever faced specific challenges or stereotypes as a woman in a tech industry? If so, how did you navigate them?
Michelle: Not really at SmartRecruiters, which I’m grateful for. The comments usually come from outside work — at parties, from acquaintances, or random “people on the street.”
For me, it’s less about being a woman in tech and more about being a woman “of a certain age” in tech. I hear things like, “Oh, your husband roped you into this, huh?” or little hints that I must be slowing down now. And my honest reaction is: absolutely not. I’ve easily got 15+ strong working years ahead of me, and I have zero intention of easing off the gas.
The way I navigate it is by doubling down on what I can control. I lean into being solidly GenX and all the life and work experience that comes with that. I’m very intentional about keeping my brain and skills sharp — learning as much as I can about AI, better presenting, and growing as a leader. The goal is that when people think of me, they think of my curiosity, expertise, and impact first, not my gender or my age.
How has SmartRecruiters supported your growth and career development while working in customer-facing roles at a tech company?
Michelle: SmartRecruiters has honestly been the best place I’ve ever worked for growing in a customer-facing role in tech. They don’t just talk about development – there are constant chances to actually build skills. We have regular product and services enablement sessions, plus a ton of resources being shared all the time, so I’m never stuck guessing where to learn something new.
On top of that, there are fun “wellness” challenges that keep things human, and our internal job board is always full of new roles and paths to explore. My managers have consistently cheered me on, pointed out opportunities I might’ve missed, and helped me see challenges as growth moments instead of roadblocks. In the last few years, Boundless University has become a huge resource for me too — it’s like having a learning hub I can dip into whenever I want to level up.
At the end of the day, I feel like SmartRecruiters gives me everything I need to grow — it’s on me to take the initiative and use it. That ties back to something my grandfather always told me: “Learn something new every day – the day you don’t, you might as well start digging your grave.” I carry that with me, and this company makes it pretty easy to live by that advice.
In your role, how do you balance the technical understanding of our solutions with the business needs and challenges of your customers?
Michelle: In my role, balancing the tech with real business needs always starts with one thing: putting myself in the customer’s shoes.
When I was an Account Manager, I made a point to really learn our products, but in a human way — not just features and acronyms, but what they actually change for someone in their day-to-day work.
I’m honestly a terrible “hard seller.” I don’t like pushing anything on anyone. Instead, I start with their world: What’s hard right now? Where are you losing time? What’s blocking you from hiring the people you need?
Once I understand that, I connect it to the part of our tech that genuinely solves that problem and let the product almost sell itself. The ongoing enablement we get — trainings, resources, reminders of all the little bells and whistles — makes it easier to translate the technical side into simple, practical value.
I also won’t recommend something just because it exists. For example, a smaller customer with light hiring needs who wants to be hands-on in every step may not need something like Winston Interview, and I’ll say that. But if a long-time customer struggles to find new talent and doesn’t have CRM, I might ask something like, “Would it help to have your strong ‘silver medal’ candidates in one place so you can stay in touch until the right role opens up?” From there, I can introduce CRM as a natural fit, not a random add-on.
In my current Renewals Desk role, I do a lot of this behind the scenes. When a customer writes in about a challenge or interest in a new product, I listen for what they really need, then connect them with the right Sales partner who can dig in with them and recommend the best solution.
I love that I can stay true to my “non-salesy” style: understand the person, understand the problem, and then make sure they land with the tech — and the people — that actually fit.
What advice would you give to other women who are considering a career in tech, or those who are just starting out?
Michelle: Honestly, the advice I give here isn’t just for women — it’s for anyone who’s curious about tech. But since we’re talking “Women in Tech,” I’ll start there.
I don’t “sell” products anymore, but I do actively “sell” the idea that tech is for people like us. My biggest piece of advice is this: focus on skills, not just certificates. In today’s world, what really matters is what you can do, how quickly you can learn something new, and how confidently you can show it. That might look like taking on a stretch project, teaching yourself a tool, or applying for a role that feels a little out of your comfort zone — and then backing it up with curiosity, effort, and follow-through.
I’d also say: stay true to who you are. Don’t reshape yourself into some idea of what a “tech person” is supposed to look or sound like. You can fake that for a while, but your real self always shows up eventually, so you may as well lead with honesty from the start. To me, confidence isn’t pretending you know everything; it’s being willing to learn, ask questions, say “I don’t know yet,” and keep going.
The professional world is changing at lightning speed. The role you have today might not even exist next year. That can feel scary or exciting, depending on how you approach it. You can either become “the expert” in one narrow thing and hope it stays relevant forever, or you can spend a few minutes each day leaning into a new skill and learning as you go. It really can be that simple.
The good news is that the tools to break into tech are better than they’ve ever been. Online learning, research tools, and AI make it so much easier to figure out where to start and what to learn next. I say this as someone from a very blue-collar background who had no idea jobs like mine even existed until I was well into my 40s. They do exist. They’re not just for people who “grew up in tech” or have a certain kind of degree. If you’re willing to do the work, keep learning, and let yourself evolve with the role, there is absolutely a place for you here.
You recently moved from a North American MidMarket Account Manager role into the Renewals Desk team. What motivated you to make this internal move, and what felt most exciting - or most intimidating - about it at the time?
Michelle: Honestly, I was ready for a more behind-the-scenes role. As a MidMarket Account Manager, I kept building little systems and shortcuts to make renewals and add-on pricing easier, while still staying within the right guardrails for SmartRecruiters. I realized I genuinely enjoyed creating those repeatable processes more than I enjoyed living in nonstop calls and meetings.
In the AM role, I could have five or six customer meetings a day, all with different people and completely different needs. As an introvert, being “on” all day, remembering every detail, and keeping up with fast follow-ups was a lot. I started to feel like I couldn’t consistently hit the bar I set for myself, and it spilled over into my life outside of work too. The intimidating part was admitting that out loud and choosing a different path than the one a lot of my peers were on.
When I heard about the new Renewals Desk team—and that Mariano Flores Leyes would be managing it—I jumped. We’d already built a strong working relationship when I’d go to him with one-off Deal Desk questions, so I knew I’d be set up for success. This role lets me work in a way that fits how I’m wired, while still having a big impact on customers and the business. I’m being stretched and supported as a leader, I trust my manager, my team, and myself more than I ever have, and I finally have a career that doesn’t crowd out my personal life. These days I log in genuinely excited to start the day, and to me, that’s a pretty good sign I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
Can you walk us through how that transition actually worked - how you found the role, applied, and ramped up - and what support from managers or colleagues made the biggest difference?
Michelle: For me, this really started with curiosity and relationships. I’d been working closely with Mariano Flores Leyes on Deal Desk-type questions in my Account Manager role, and I realized I genuinely enjoyed that kind of work. So when one of the Deal Desk reps left late last year, I casually floated to Mariano that if a similar role ever opened up, I’d be very interested. Nothing formal, just a “hey, this is where I’d love to grow” conversation.
A few months went by. I kept an eye on the internal job board, checking in about once a month. Eventually I saw the Renewals Desk role pop up. Around the same time I was updating my resume, Mariano reached out — because he already knew this was the direction I wanted to go — and told me I should apply. My application was in by the end of the day. Hitting “submit” was the easy part; not immediately telling everyone how excited I was was the hard part.
Timing worked in my favor. CKO - our company-wide offsite in Mallorca, happened a week or two after I applied, and January was absolutely packed with renewals, so I barely had time to overthink anything. While we were in Spain, I actually got to have my “offer interview” with Matt Enos in person, which almost never happens in a remote-first company. I flew home, waited for the official offer letter, signed it, and by the following Monday I was officially on the Renewals Desk.
Ramping up felt more like shifting gears than starting from scratch. As an Account Manager, I’d already been building my own systems, templates, and shortcuts for renewals. I brought all of that with me, lined it up against what Mariano expected from the Renewals Desk team, trimmed what no longer fit, learned a few new pieces, and was pretty solid in the role within about a week.
The support I’ve had from Mariano and my new teammates has been the real game-changer. They’ve trusted me, answered questions, and given me room to make the role my own. It honestly feels like I landed in the right place at exactly the right time, and I’m genuinely excited to see where I can grow from here.
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